Jay Ramsay obituary
Jay Ramsay, who has died of cancer aged 60, was a psychotherapist and poet. The author of nearly 40 books, including nonfiction on alchemy and relationship psychology, and translations of classics of...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Why the swan by Andrew Lambeth
The writer discovers in this familiar but enigmatic creature an elusive emblemWhy the swanBecause the swan floatsup close.Continue reading...
View Article'A star is born': TS Eliot prize goes to Hannah Sullivan's debut
Poet’s ‘absolutely exhilarating’ first collection Three Poems takes £25,000 prize Poet Hannah Sullivan has won the prestigious and lucrative TS Eliot prize for her first collection Three Poems – just...
View ArticleMarcus Cumberlege obituary
My lifelong friend Marcus Cumberlege, who has died aged 80, was a prolific poet. He lived in Bruges, Belgium, for 46 years. Earlier he had had several poetry collections published in the UK. Another 20...
View ArticleOtter magic: Spell Songs cry out to save our vanishing countryside
It has comforted the downtrodden, inspired Britain’s schoolchildren and even been sprayed as graffiti. Now, the book has shifted shape again – into musicIt felt like the folk music equivalent of...
View ArticleTop 10 books about Trinidad and Tobago | Claire Adam
Taking in history, essays and poetry as well as fiction, novelist Claire Adam recommends favourite reading about her island nationI grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and left, aged 18, to study at Brown...
View ArticleTS Eliot poetry prize winner Hannah Sullivan and Kevin Powers – books podcast
On this week’s show, Claire speaks to Hannah Sullivan, fresh from her win at the TS Eliot prize with Three Poems. Then Sian and Claire sit down to discuss why some books get a second life in...
View ArticleMary Oliver, Pulitzer prize-winning poet, dies aged 83
The poet, known for her nature and wildlife-themed work, died at her home from lymphomaMary Oliver, the Pulitzer prize-winning poet whose rapturous odes to nature and animal life brought her critical...
View ArticleSabrina Mahfouz: ‘Oppressive systems can destroy young people’s lives’
With an adaptation of Noughts and Crosses set to tour the UK and her anthology of Muslim writing picked for Emma Watson’s book club, the prolific British writer is as busy as ever. Here she talks about...
View ArticleJasmin Paris’s amazing feat gives new meaning to endurance | Rebecca Nicholson
The achievements of the winner of the gruelling Montane Spine Race are truly awe-inspiringLast week, Jasmin Paris won the Montane Spine Race, for which the word “gruelling” seems horribly inadequate....
View ArticleThe Dark review – dangerous escape from Idi Amin's Uganda
The Egg, BathNick Makoha’s fragmented and vertiginous account of his treacherous journey to Britain is a story of our timesOn the left of the stage, a screen projects the Miltonic line: “No light, but...
View ArticlePoetry sales soar as political millennials search for clarity
Record £12m sales last year were driven by younger readers, with experts saying hunger for nuance amid conflict and disaster were fuelling the boomA passion for politics, particularly among teenagers...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Calabash by Christopher Reid
A drolly refashioned creation myth finds both God and Man short on inspiration, and the newly created Woman unconvincedThe CalabashHaving fashioned the first man out of sticks and mud,God looked at him...
View ArticleVertigo & Ghost by Fiona Benson review – songs of shock and survival
Benson’s extraordinarily moving collection is a bold confrontation of violence against womenVertigo & Ghost is one of the darkest, bravest and most unsettling collections I have read in a while....
View Article'Pretty aint it … Mrs Yonge said so': the changing face of teaching poetry
An exhibition in Cambridge shows how poems have been taught to GCSE students down the decades – with pupils’ own textbook annotations included“This bum is the property of the Education department....
View ArticleYoung people look for meaning. But poetry doesn’t always offer clarity |...
New figures show a dramatic growth in the popularity of poetry among millennials. A poet writes this original poem in response • Poetry sales soar as political millennials search for clarityClarity isa...
View ArticleDear Elizabeth review – poets bare their souls in a lyrical show
Gate theatre, LondonJade Anouka and Jonjo O’Neill give first-rate performances reading the letters between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert LowellSarah Ruhl’s dramatisation of the letters exchanged between...
View Article'I was very angry' – the last interview with Jonas Mekas, godfather of avant...
He mentored Warhol, partied with Dalí and showed John and Yoko the perfect espresso. In this interview given shortly before his death, the film-making legend looked back on his amazing lifeJonas Mekas,...
View ArticlePoetry pharmacy set to open in Shropshire
The Emergency Poet, Deborah Alma, plans to dispense literary first aid from a shop in Bishop’s CastleFollowing in the hallowed footsteps of Milton, who wrote in 1671 that “apt words have power to swage...
View ArticleLand of westlin’ winds: the best Scottish poetry for Burns Night
James Naughtie’s picks include bashed pillows, sharp stars and sexy spacemen. What are your favourites? In a week that feels ripe for celebrating the reach of poetry– and just in time for Burns Night –...
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